Port Jervis mall left high and dry

PORT JERVIS — It was a hard rain last week that closed the ramshackle strip mall on Pike Street, but it's the mom-and-pop businesses in the mall that are really getting soaked.

BY STEPHEN SACCO

PORT JERVIS — It was a hard rain last week that closed the ramshackle strip mall on Pike Street, but it's the mom-and-pop businesses in the mall that are really getting soaked.

City Engineer Al Fusco told the City Council on Monday at a regular meeting that the building at 100 Pike St. is mostly salvageable, but would require extensive work on the roof, including new insulation and a mostly new roof deck.

This is bad news for the roughly 75 people who worked in the mall. But the small businesses — #1 Nails Plus, Brother Bruno's Pizza and the Laundry Station — are hit the hardest. They have no corporate parents to provide help with the legal and engineering issues that have suddenly arisen. Many of the business owners have sunk their own money into their stores. Still, they could possibly lose their livelihoods and their employees could be out of work, they told the council.

"We don't have a lawyer on staff," said John Altadonna, owner of Brother Bruno's, which has been serving pizza in the same location for more than 30 years.

Altadonna said that whenever the roof leaked, he would call the mall owner, KT Associates of Amawalk, and they would do a patch job. Soon, he said, the roof would leak again.

George VanAlthuis, owner of the Laundry Station, questioned the city about how the damage could have been allowed to become so bad. Both pleaded with the council to let them do business.

But Mayor Russ Potter, while sympathetic, says the building has become a public safety issue.

The unoccupied portion of the building, which used to be home to the Great American grocery store, is likely not salvageable and portions of the ceiling in Rite Aid and Dollar General have collapsed, Fusco said. Fusco also said that Rite Aid and Dollar General are exploring the possibility of repairing the building themselves.

City officials say they haven't heard from KT Associates, even though they have sent faxes and certified letters to them.

David Wilkes, an attorney at the high-powered New York real estate law firm Huff Wilkes, which represents KT Associates, said the owners have been in contact with the city and they "dispute" some of the city's assertions about the building.

Rite Aid has employees at its Port Jervis location temporarily working at its Dolson Avenue store in Middletown, said Ashley Flower, a company spokeswoman. Rite Aid will also deliver medication to Port Jervis customers at its expense. Flower said there are two deliveries from Middletown to Port each day, and customers who call the Port Jervis number are automatically transferred to the Dolson Avenue store.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking for the small-business owners. Fusco said the damage is repairable now, but further rainstorms could still cause more havoc.

ssacco@th-record.com

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